


"put a finger down if you think ladybug's hot."

by sukker_sugar



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Knows, Alya Césaire Ships It, Beta Read, Bisexual Alya Césaire, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Identity Reveal, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Reveal, chat still calls her the nicknames and you can FIGHT me on that, identity shenenigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26563747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sukker_sugar/pseuds/sukker_sugar
Summary: Alya is an amazing wing woman and ploys Adrien into admitting his crush on Ladybug.A.K.A Adrien had the brain cell that night.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 10
Kudos: 146





	"put a finger down if you think ladybug's hot."

“Well, of course she’s  _ attractive _ , but it’s nothing more than- ow!” Adrien got elbowed in the side by Nino while trying to explain the situation. Alya was doing a horrible job stifling her laughter and Marinette was staring at the ground in front of her.

It had been an innocent (enough) hang out. All they were doing was a put a finger down challenge. Shit hit the fan when Alya had said, “Put a finger down if you think Ladybug’s hot.” All in sync, Nino, Adrien, and Alya put fingers down, leaving Marinette dumbfounded. 

It had been explained that Alya and Nino were both on the same wavelength and had talked about it before, so there were no problems between them. Nino knew Adrien had a crush on Ladybug and Alya was good at picking up the context clues (she is a reporter, after all), but Marinette was left in the dust with comprehending the answers. More specifically Adrien’s answer. 

By Alya’s reaction, it had, very obviously, been a ploy to see if Adrien liked her. Alya had known for weeks, after Marinette needed someone to vent to completely, so she took the risk and told Alya. She had been completely understanding and toned down the attention on knowing Ladybug’s identity on the Ladyblog even further than after she first became Rena Rouge. She hadn’t been pushy for a relationship, but still knew Marinette liked Adrien, so she  _ obviously _ had to do something about it.

“Look, all I’m saying is that you shouldn't have to be shy about it, Adrien. I wear the fact that Ladybug was my awakening with  _ pride _ , pun intended.” Alya explained while Adrien rubbed his side. 

“Ok, maybe, just  _ maybe _ , I would be willing to admit it. But you would mock- oh wait.  _ Oh shit _ .” Alya burst out laughing while Marinette went as red as her suit, prompting her to immediately duck her head into her shirt. Nino snickered and nudged Adrien again, only lighter that time.

“I’m g-gonna go get a glass of water.” Marinette muffled through the fabric. She slowly got up, making sure not to face Adrien as she did. She dashed to the kitchen, catching her breath as she supported herself on the countertop, ducking the top half of her body down. She turned around and took a glass down, taking it over to the tap and filling it up. She took a few sips to calm her flushing face and went back over to where everyone else was sitting and sat down.

Alya nudged her a bit, but Marinette only nudged her back. “ _ Anyways _ , we should continue.” Nino said. Everyone else nodded in agreement and got back to the game. 

* * *

Everything after the Ladybug question was relatively tame, except for when everyone put fingers down when asked if they used a miraculous before, but they collectively agreed to not speak of it after. 

Marinette’s eyes shot open after she made sure Alya was asleep. She quietly got up and motioned for Tikki to follow her. Alya was a night owl, so she could be pretty sure everyone else was also asleep. She peered into the living room from the hallway, and made light steps toward the window. 

She cracked the window slowly, worrying and praying it wouldn’t squeak. Thankfully, it didn’t, so she opened it the rest of the way, opening the screen soon after. “Spots on.” Marinette whispered. She carefully climbed out, pulling the screen back up when she was out. She then pulled the window up slightly, enough for it to look closed from the inside, but still able to pull it down from the outside.

She released the yo-yo and swung over to the Eiffel Tower. She landed on the very top deck, her feet making a small  _ thunk _ against the metal. She leaned up against the tower while waiting for Chat Noir. It wasn’t like her to be early, so she tipped her head up and closed her eyes. She was alone with her thoughts, so by the time Chat got there, her cheeks were not quite, but almost, on par with how red she got earlier that night.

“Hey, bugaboo! Whatcha thinking about?” he asked. His voice snapped her back to reality, her cheeks returning to their regular peach colour. 

“Nothing much, why?” 

“Your cheeks were flushed. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, though.” She thought about it for a moment. She decided it wouldn’t be too revealing of her identity, so why not.

“It’s nothing, just the guy I like said he liked Ladybug.” she chuckled. “He was reluctant to admit it, but one of my best friends got him to. You should have seen my face then.” She opened her eyes back up and looked over to him. He looked shocked, pale, even. She cocked her head in confusion. He went as red as her suit this time. 

“You ok?” she asked. He rapidly shook his head and brought himself back to reality, a stupidly giddy grin slowly spreading across his lips. 

“Yeah, I just was thinking. I may have a hunch about your identity.” Now, it was Marinette’s turn to be shocked. 

“I… I mean sure, but I was only with three of my friends earlier.” she said through her confusion.

“Even more telling.” he said through his ever-widening grin. “Let me guess. You were doing a put a finger down challenge and one of your friends said, and I quote, ‘Put a finger down if you think Ladybug’s hot.’ Everyone except you put a finger down and one of the guys, possibly even the guy you like, gave a flimsy excuse to try and get out of the situation. You ended up going to go get a glass of water and returned back to the circle.”

“ _ Oh _ . Oh shit.” she muttered. Her cheeks went red once more and she slapped her hands over her mouth. She slumped down and landed on the cold metal of the tower. 

He looked down and offered her a hand back up. She accepted, still shocked and covering her mouth with one of her hands. Chat chuckled. “I knew there was a reason you were our everyday Ladybug.” That confirmed it for Marinette. She slowly and shakily took her hand off her mouth, her mouth falling wide open.

How could she not notice it before? Everything started to click into place. They had the same smile, the same soft eyes that killed her every time, the same chuckle that made her laugh along. It was all one big and perfect realization that couldn’t have slapped her across harder if it tried.

“You… you’re…” she stuttered. Marinette didn’t know if she could actually get the words out of her mouth. “ _ Adrien _ .” she whispered. It was a cathartic feeling, being able to say it. At the same time, she held a feeling of absolute  _ dread _ in the back of her mind. All this time, she had been rejecting Chat in favour of Adrien. Alternatively, as she knew now, she had been rejecting  _ Adrien _ in favour of Adrien.

Despite her other thoughts, she practically flew over and embraced him. He returned the favor, holding her close. “Hey, I love you.” he whispered into her ear.

“Love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> i just. lvoe these dorks so mu ch  
> thank you vee (veebeegeebies on tumblr, SerendipitousReckonings here on Ao3) and sd1970x (both on Ao3 and tumblr) for beta reading!  
> tumblr is sukker-sugar


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